Internet of things devices and services for management of license reservation and granting

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques for an IoT shell are provided. A system includes an internet of things (IoT) device, a database, and a license manager. The database may include one or more sets of authorized licenses, each set of authorized licenses associated with a respective vendor software. The license manager may be in communication with the IoT device and the database, and further include a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processor. The license manager may be configured to receive a request to reserve a license for a first vendor software, determine an availability of the license associated with the first vendor software, register a unique identifier of the IoT device in association with the license, and grant the license to the IoT device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/492,491 filed May 1, 2017 by Steven M. Casey et al.,entitled “IoT Devices and Services Software Management System & Method.”This application may also be related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/884,539 filed Oct. 15, 2015 by Steven M. Casey et al., entitled“Software Management in Dynamically Scalable Cloud Environment.” Thedisclosures of these applications are incorporated herein by referencein their entireties for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to a software managementsystem, and more particularly to a scalable, dynamic, softwaremanagement system in an IoT platform.

BACKGROUND

Devices found in homes and businesses are increasingly becominginterconnected. Smart, network-connected devices, such as householdappliances, televisions, personal electronics, vehicles, heating,ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, sprinkler systems,light bulbs, utility meters, and industrial equipment and telemetrydevices permeate modern homes and commercial/industrial spaces. Manymanufacturers and vendors provide devices that operate within their ownproprietary internet of things (IoT) ecosystems, each with runningversions of proprietary and/or third-party software/firmware.

Once deployed, software and/or firmware on the IoT devices may or maynot be updated by the user or a vendor of the IoT device. Moreover, IoTdevices may utilize licensed software for various services andfunctions. The number of IoT devices utilizing a license may fluctuatedynamically at any given time, as new IoT devices are deployed and olderIoT devices are disabled, and usage of the IoT devices may fluctuateacross different regions depending on the time of day.

Accordingly, tools and techniques for an IoT devices and servicessoftware management is provided below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the embodimentsmay be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system for IoT devices andservices software management, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a system topology for IoT devicesand services software management, in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of IoT devices and servicessoftware management, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system for IoT devicesand services software management, in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computingsystems, IoT devices, and system hardware architecture, which may beused in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description illustrates a few exemplaryembodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in the art topractice such embodiments. The described examples are provided forillustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present maybe practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances,certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Severalembodiments are described herein, and while various features areascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that thefeatures described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporatedwith other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no singlefeature or features of any described embodiment should be consideredessential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments ofthe invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

The various embodiments include, without limitation, methods, systems,and/or software products. Merely by way of example, a method mightcomprise one or more procedures, any or all of which are executed by acomputer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment might provide a computersystem configured with instructions to perform one or more procedures inaccordance with methods provided by various other embodiments.Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set of instructions thatare executable by a computer system (and/or a processor therein) toperform such operations. In many cases, such software programs areencoded on physical, tangible, and/or non-transitory computer readablemedia (such as, to name but a few examples, optical media, magneticmedia, and/or the like).

In an aspect, a system for IoT devices and services software managementis provided. The system may include an IoT device, a database, and alicense manager. The IoT device may be in communication with one or moresensors. The database may include one or more sets of authorizedlicenses, each set of authorized licenses associated with a respectivevendor software. The license manager may be in communication with theIoT device and the database, and may include a processor and anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructionsexecutable by the processor to perform various functions. Accordingly,in some embodiments, the license manager may be programmed to receive,via the IoT device, a request to reserve a license of a first set of oneor more authorized licenses associated with a first vendor software. Thelicense manager may further be configured to determine, via thedatabase, an availability of the license associated with the firstvendor software. Responsive to determining that the license isavailable, the license manager may be configured to register, via thedatabase, a unique identifier of the IoT device, wherein by registrationthe unique identifier is associated with the license. Then, the licensemanager may be configured to grant the license to the IoT device.

In a further aspect, an apparatus for IoT devices and services softwaremanagement is provided. The apparatus may include a processor and anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructionsexecutable by the processor. Accordingly, the apparatus may beprogrammed to receive, from an IoT device, a request to reserve alicense of a first set of one or more authorized licenses associatedwith a first vendor software. The apparatus may further be programmed todetermine, via a license database, an availability of the licenseassociated with the first vendor software. In response to determiningthat the license is available, the apparatus may further register, viathe license database, a unique identifier of the IoT device, wherein byregistration the unique identifier is associated with the license. Theapparatus may then grant the license to the IoT device.

In a further aspect, a method of IoT devices and services softwaremanagement. The method may include receiving, via a license manager, arequest to reserve a license of a first set of one or more authorizedlicenses associated with a first vendor software. The method maycontinue by determining, via the license manager, an availability of thelicense associated with the first vendor software. The method mayfurther include registering, via the license manager, a uniqueidentifier of the IoT device, in response to determining that thelicense is available, with a database including the first set of one ormore authorized licenses associated with the first vendor software,wherein by registration the unique identifier is associated with thelicense. The method continues by granting, via the license manager, thelicense to the IoT device.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodimentsdiscussed without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, while the embodiments described above refer to specificfeatures, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments havingdifferent combination of features and embodiments that do not includeall the above described features.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system 100 for IoT devices andservices software management, in accordance with various embodiments.The system 100 may include a license manager 105, network 110, IoTMiddleware 115, IoT devices 120 a-120 n (collectively “the plurality ofIoT devices 120”), a first instance of software 1 (SW1) 125 a and asecond instance of SW1 125 b (collectively “the instances of SW1 125”),a first instance of software 2 (SW2) 130 a and a second instance of SW2130 b (collectively “the instances of SW2 130”), a first instance ofsoftware 3 (SW3) 135 a and a second instance of SW3 135 b (collectively“the instances of SW3 135”), one or more sensors 140 a-140 n(collectively “the plurality of sensors 140”), IoT gateway 145, one ormore IoT resources 150, and one or more network elements 155.

In various embodiments, the license manager 105 may be coupled, vianetwork 110, to a plurality of IoT devices 120. In some embodiments, anIoT gateway 145 may couple each of the plurality of IoT devices 120 tothe network 110. Alternatively, each of the plurality of IoT devices 120may be configured to be coupled directly to the network 110. Theplurality of IoT device 120 may further be configured to access one ormore IoT resources 150 via the network 110. A plurality of sensors 140may further be provided. Each of the plurality of IoT devices 120 mayfurther be coupled to a respective sensor 140 a-140 n of the pluralityof sensors 140. An IoT middleware 115 may further be provided. The IoTmiddleware 115 may be coupled to the IoT gateway 145, or individual IoTdevices 120 a-120 n, via the network 110. In some embodiments, the IoTmiddleware 115 may further be coupled to the license manager 105 via thenetwork 110. One or more network elements 155 may further be coupled tothe license manager 120, IoT middleware 115, plurality of IoT devices120, the IoT gateway 145, or the one or more IoT resources 150 via thenetwork 110. It should be noted that the system 100 and its componentsare schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, and that modifications to thesystems 100 or components may be possible in accordance with variousembodiments.

In various embodiments, each of the plurality of IoT devices 120 may beconfigured to run different instances of one or more different softwareprograms. Software programs may include programs and applications whichmay be loaded locally at an IoT device 120 a-120 n, retrieved from anIoT resource 150, or remotely executed by an IoT resource 150 (e.g. aserver) in communication with an IoT device 120 a-120 n. For example, afirst IoT device 120 a may include a first instance of SW1 125 a, andfirst instance of SW2 130 a. A second IoT device 120 b may include asecond instance of SW2 130 b, and a first instance of SW3 135 a. An nthIoT device 120 n may include a second instance of SW1 125 b and a secondinstance of SW3 135 b. Each of the plurality of IoT devices 120 mayfurther be coupled to a respective one or more sensors 140 a-140 n of aplurality of sensors 140. For example, various sensor types may beutilized in the plurality of sensors 140, including, without limitation,photodetectors, scales, gyroscopes, global positioning system (GPS)receiver, cameras, microphones, moisture readers, thermometers,smart-grid sensors, accelerometers, rangefinders, and motion detectors.In some embodiments, the plurality of sensors 140 may be locally coupledto a respective IoT device 120 a-120 n, while in other embodiments, theplurality of sensors 140 may be configured to be accessed remotely.Thus, the first IoT device 120 a may be coupled to one or more firstsensors 140 a, the second IoT device 120 b may be coupled to one or moresecond sensors 140 b, and the nth IoT device 120 n may be coupled to oneor more nth sensors 140 n. In various embodiments, one or more of theinstances of SW1 125, instances of SW2 130, and instances of SW3 135 maybe licensed or require a license to be run. In some embodiments, theinstances of SW1 125, instances of SW2 130, and instances of SW3 135 maybe configured to be executable, by the IoT device 120 a-120 n, to allowa respective IoT device 120 a-120 n to access various IoT resource(s)150, including, without limitation, one or more sensors 140 a-140 n,data streams produced by the one or more sensors 140 a-140 n,cloud-based services and tools, and other IoT devices. In furtherembodiments, the instances of SW1 125, instances of SW2 130, andinstances of SW3 135 may be configured to be executable, by the IoTdevice 120 a-120 n, to allow an external device, such as the IoTmiddleware 115, an IoT resource 150, a user device, or IoT gateway 145to access data generated by the one or more sensors 140 a-140 n.Accordingly, each of the plurality of IoT devices 120 may include,without limitation, a single-board computer, microcontroller unit (MCU)board, field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a system on a chip (SoC), or other type ofembedded system, configured to run the respective instances of SW1 125,instances of SW2 130, and instances of SW3 135.

In various embodiments, the license manager 105 may be coupled to one ormore of the IoT devices 120 a-120 n, via the network 110, or IoT gateway105. The license manager 105 may be configured to manage, monitor, andtrack the instances of SW1 125, instances of SW2 130, and instances ofSW3 135 in use by the plurality of IoT devices 120. In furtherembodiments, the license manager 105 may be coupled to one or more IoTresources 150, including a server with one or more licenses for runningor providing instances of SW1 125, instances of SW2 130, and instancesof SW3 135 for use by one or more of the IoT devices 120 a-120 n. Thelicense manager 105 may include, without limitation, hardware, software,or both hardware and software. For example, the license manager may be ahardware appliance or tool, a server computer, web portal, orapplication running on a server computer. Accordingly, the licensemanager 105 may be executable by one or more processors, such as acentral processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), digitalsignal processing (DSP) chips, FPGA, ASIC, SoC, or other type ofembedded processor, running on a single-board computer or MCU boardplatform. In yet further embodiments, the license manager 105 may besoftware executable on one or more of the IoT devices 120 a-120 n. Insome embodiments, the license manager may be run on multiple IoT devicesof the plurality of IoT device 120 devices in a distributed manner, witheach IoT device 120 a-120 n of a platform managing its own and others'license requests. In other embodiments, one IoT device 120 a-120 n or acluster of one or more IoT devices 120 a-120 n may be coupled to theother IoT devices of the plurality of IoT devices, and configured to runthe license manager 105 in a more centralized manner.

The license manager 105 may further be configured to communicate withother network elements 155 (e.g., an access point) over network 110. Invarious embodiments, the license manager 105 may further include, by wayof example, and without limitation, a data server, web server, index,list, or database (e.g., a software license database). In someembodiments, the database of the license manager 105 may be locallyintegrated into the hardware of the license manager 105, or may be aremote database accessible via a network, such as network 110, by thelicense manager 105.

The network 110 may include, without limitation, any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunication. For example, various embodiments may employ, withoutlimitation, a local area network (LAN); a wide-area network includinglow-power wide area network (LPWAN), long range wide area network(LoRaWAN), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT); Neul; Sigfox; Ingenu; IPv6 overlow-power wireless personal area network (6LoWPAN); Thread; near fieldcommunications (NFC); radio frequency identification (RFID); a virtualnetwork, such as a virtual private network (VPN); the Internet; anintranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network (PSTN); aninfra-red network; a wireless network, including without limitation anetwork operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols,including the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art, or any otherwireless protocol; a cellular voice or data network (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G,5G & long term evolution (LTE)); or any combination of these and othernetworks.

In various embodiments, each IoT device 120 a-120 n of the plurality ofIoT devices 120 may be configured to communicate with each other. Forexample, in some embodiments, the first IoT device 120 a may beconfigured to communicate with the second IoT device 120 b. Thus, invarious embodiments, a device, user, or software tool, such as thelicense manager 105 m, may be able to ping or obtain data about a firstIoT device 120 a via another IoT device (e.g., the second IoT device 120b) coupled to the first IoT device 120 b. In further embodiments, an IoTgateway 145 may be provided. An IoT gateway 145 may be configured toprovision, manage, and organize the plurality of IoT devices 120. Invarious embodiments, the IoT gateway 145 be configured to further allowone or more of the plurality of IoT devices 120 to access various IoTresources 150 via network 110, the IoT middleware 115 to communicatewith one or more of the plurality of IoT devices 120, or to allow an IoTdevice 120 a-120 n to communicate with the other IoT devices of theplurality of IoT devices 120. The IoT gateway 145 may include, withoutlimitation, gateway devices, such as a residential gateway, modems,routers, access points, or other communication nodes. The IoT gateway145 may be accessible, over network 110, to receive requests fromcustomers or providers to provision additional IoT devices to theplurality of IoT devices 120, and a respective one or more sensor to theplurality of sensors 140. The IoT gateway 145 may be configured toprovision, make accessible, or obtain access to IoT resources, and tomake the plurality of IoT devices accessible. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the IoT gateway 145 may be configured to allow a licensemanager 105 to gain access to one or more of the plurality IoT devices120.

In various embodiments, the license manager 105 may further be incommunication with one or more different types of network element(s)165. Network element(s) 165 may include network devices configured tocouple an internet service provider's central office to a customer'spremises. For example, in various embodiments, the network element(s)165 may include, without limitation, databases, routers, switches,firewalls, broadband remote access servers (BRAS), cable modemtermination systems (CMTS), digital subscriber line access multiplexers(DSLAM), optical line termination (OLT), network interface devices(NID), optical network terminal (ONT), residential gateways, modems, settop boxes, and other like devices. In various embodiments, the networkelement(s) 165 may further be coupled to the IoT gateway 145.

In various embodiments, each of the plurality of IoT deices 120 may beassociated with a respective unique identifier. The unique identifiermay serve to identify the specific IoT device 120 a-120 n. The uniqueidentifier may include, without limitation, an internet protocol (IP)address, media access control (MAC) address, location information,serial number, model number, customer information or identification,international mobile station equipment identity (IMEI), mobile equipmentidentifier (MEI), or other identifier suitable to uniquely identify arespective IoT device 120 a-120 n.

According to various embodiments, the IoT gateway 145, or alternativelyan IoT device 120 a-120 n, associated with a first customer may generatea request for an IoT resources 150. The request may include a requestfor a system, application, or other resources available from a serviceprovider, which may include one or more instances of SW1 125, SW2 130,and SW3 135. Based on the request, the IoT gateway 145 and/or IoTresource 150 may be configured to provision one or more instances of SW1125, SW2 130, SW3 135 to a requesting IoT device 120 a-120 n associatedwith the first customer. Similarly, a different IoT gateway 145 and/orIoT device 120 a-120 n, associated with a second customer, may generatea request for IoT resources 150, which may include one or more instancesSW1 125, SW2 130, and SW 135. Based on this request, the networkorchestrator 160 may provision VM2 120 b with software in the form of asecond instance of SW2 130 b and a first instance of SW3 135 a.Accordingly, IoT resources 150 may be provisioned for a plurality ofcustomers, the final customer being customer “n.” Thus, for example, oneor more IoT devices 120 a-120 n may be associated with a first customer,one or more IoT devices 120 a-120 n may be associated with a secondcustomer, and one or more IoT devices 120 a-120 n may be associated withan nth customer. In some further embodiments, each customer may beassociated with a respective IoT gateway 145.

Thus, network resources 150 may be provisioned for each customer, withmultiple instances of SW1 125, SW2 130, and SW3 135. For example, afirst IoT device 120 a may be associated with a first customer, and maybe provisioned with a first instance SW1 125 a and a first instance ofSW2 130 a. A second IoT device 120 b may be associated with a secondcustomer, and may be provisioned with a second instance of SW2 130 b anda first instance of SW3. The third IoT device 120 n may be associatedwith an nth customer, and may be provisioned with a second instance ofSW1 125 b and a second instance of SW3 135 b. In various embodiments,the requested IoT resources 150, for example instances of SW1 125, SW2130, and SW3 135, may be provisioned after confirmation of theavailability of a license via the license manager 105. Thus, the licensemanager 105 may be configured to first confirm the availability of alicense for each requested instance of SW1 125, SW2 130, and SW3 135. Infurther embodiments, the availability of licenses may be confirmed toprovision, execute, or otherwise provide access to other IoT resources150 (e.g., licensed services and/or software), an IoT middleware 115, orIoT gateway 145. For example, the IoT middleware 115 may be hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software, such as a networkappliance or tool, a server computer, web portal, or application runningon a server computer, configured to gather data, perform analytics,interface communications between various IoT devices 120 a-120 n andsensors 140 a-140 n, and provide other management functions over theplurality of IoT devices 120. The IoT middleware 115 may, thus, beprovided by a third-party vendor and may be licensed for use by acustomer, device vendor, or IoT service provider. Thus, in someembodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured to confirm theavailability of licenses for the IoT middleware. In further embodiments,one or more of the IoT devices 120 a-120 n may be deployed withinstances of SW1 125, SW2 130, and/or SW3 135. The IoT devices 120 a-120n may, in turn, be configured to access or run the respective instancesof SW1 125, SW2 130, and/or SW3 135 after retrieving a license from thelicense manager 105. Accordingly, the license manager 105 may beconfigured to determine whether a license is available for the requestedinstance of SW1 125, SW2 130, and/or SW3 135, or other IoT resources150. In some embodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured to“check-out” a license held by the customer, IoT device vendor, or IoTservice provider to a requesting device. For example, checking-out alicense may include, without limitation, confirming that a license isavailable for the requested IoT resource 150, and allowing therequesting IoT device 120 a-120 n to obtain and/or execute the instanceof SW1 125, SW2 130, and/or SW3 135, or to access a requested IoTresources 150. In some further embodiments, as manufacturers of IoTdevices discontinue support for certain devices, the license manager 105may be configured to revoke licenses for software on the specific IoTdevice 120 a-120 n being discontinued. In some embodiments, IoT devicesmay dynamically added or removed from the plurality of IoT devices 120.Accordingly, the license manager 105 may be configured to grant and/oracquire licenses dynamically, responsive to a new IoT device 120 a-120 nbeing initialized and the IoT device 120 a-120 n reporting its status toa manufacturer. For example, the license manager 105 may be configuredto confirm that a unique identifier of an IoT device has come online andreported itself to its respective manufacturer, before licenses aregranted or acquired. Therefore, in some embodiments, IoT device vendorsand/or IoT service providers may avoid utilizing licenses on IoT devicesthat have not been purchased or that have not yet been used afterpurchase.

In various embodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured totrack a total number of licenses, the number of available licenses, andthe licenses granted (e.g., “checked-out”) to various requesting devices(e.g., IoT devices 120 a-120 n and/or IoT gateway 145). For example, insome embodiments, as described above, the license manager 105 may beconfigured to maintain a database of available licenses for instances ofSW1 125, SW2 130, and SW3 135. Thus, in one set of embodiments, arequest to reserve a license for a software instance may be generated byan individual IoT device 120 a-120 n, an IoT gateway 145, or other IoTresources 150 (e.g., a remote device or server associated with a IoTservice provider, IoT device vendor, or a customer). The license manager105 may be configured to receive a request to reserve a license for thesoftware instance. For example, the license manager 105 may receive arequest to reserve a license for a first instance of SW1 125 a. Thelicense manager 105 may then determine, via the database of availablelicenses, whether a license for SW1 125 is available to the requestingparty (e.g., a customer, IoT device vendor, or IoT service provider, orthird party).

In some embodiments, the availability of at least some licenses of atotal number of available licenses may be determined based on a current,real-time availability of a license. Thus, available licenses may begranted to requesting devices in a first-come, first-serve basis. Infurther embodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured todetermine the availability of a license based on a predictedavailability of a license or scheduled availability of a license. Forexample, a license for a software instance may be scheduled to bereserved in advance, or priority to receive a license may be given to aspecific requesting device or customer. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured to determine whenand how many licenses will be checked out in the future or becomeavailable in the future, based on, for example, scheduled requests forlicenses, or predictively based on historic usage. In some furtherembodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured to grant licensesfor a specific amount of time, or a request for the license may indicatean amount of time to use the license. The license manager 105 may beconfigured to notify the requesting device regarding when a license isexpected to become available. In some embodiments, the license manager105 may maintain a queue of requesting devices if multiple devicesrequest licenses that are not available. In some embodiments, thelicense manager 105 may be configured to grant a license based on apriority level. For example, in some embodiments, the license manager105 may be configured to determine whether the priority level of adevice currently using a license is lower than the priority level of arequesting device. If the priority level of the requesting device (orcustomer) is higher than that of a device currently using a license, thelicense manager 105 may be configured to revoke the license from thedevice currently using the license, and grant the license to therequesting device (or customer) with the higher priority level.

If the license manager 105 determines that a license is available, thelicense manager 105 may be configured to register a unique identifier ofthe requesting device, such as a respective IoT device 120 a-120 n, IoTgateway 145, or an IoT resource 150 (e.g., an IoT resource 150requesting a license for a licensed software instance or other IoTresource 150 requiring a license), and associating the unique identifiedwith the license. Thus, a respective available license will be tied tothe requesting device utilizing the license. In some examples, licensesmay be tracked by a license identifier assigned by the software vendorof the software instance, or in some embodiments, as assigned by thelicense manager 105.

In various embodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured togrant or deny a license to the requesting device based on theconfirmation of its availability. In some examples, granting or denyinga license may include granting or denying permission/access to arequesting device to obtain, or execute the requested instance ofsoftware or IoT resource 150. For example, the first IoT device 120 amay be configured to transmit a request to execute a first instance ofSW1 125 a, and a first instance of SW2 130 a to the license manager 105.The license manager 105 may then determine whether a license forinstances of SW1 125 are available. If a license for instances of SW1125 is determined to be available, the license manager 105 may grant alicense to the first IoT device 102 a.

In a similar manner, the second IoT device 120 b may also request alicense for a respective second instance of SW2 130 b. The licensemanager 105 may check the license database to determine the availabilityof a second license for the instance of SW2 130 b requested by thesecond IoT device 120 b. If the license manager 105 determines that alicense is available, the license manager 105 may register a uniqueidentifier of the second IoT device 120 b in association with theavailable license for the second instance of SW2 130 b. In variousembodiments, the same procedure may be repeated for the instances of SW1125, SW2 130, and SW3 135 running on IoT devices 120 a-120 n.

In various embodiments, a certain number of licenses may be provided tothe customer, IoT device vendor, or IoT service provider by a softwarevendor of the respective software SW1 125, SW2 130, and SW3 135. Inother embodiments, a certain number of licenses may be provided to thecustomer directly, and the customer may provide the license informationto the license manager 105 to manage its licenses of the across each ofthe customer's VM instances 120, 145.

In some embodiments, the total number of licenses for SW1 125 may belimited. For example, in some embodiments, the number of licenses forSW1 125 may be limited to two licenses. When another requesting device(e.g., a different IoT device of the plurality of IoT devices 120)requests a license to run a third instance of SW1 125, the licensemanager 105 may not grant a license to the requesting device until alicense in use by the first and second IoT devices 120 a, 120 b becomesavailable. In some embodiments, when the first IoT device 120 a hasfinished using the first instance of SW1 125 a, the first IoT device 120a may be configured to send an indication to license manager 105 that itis no longer running its instance of SW1 125 a. The license may then bedisassociated from the identifier of the first IoT device 120 a andlabeled as available. In other embodiments, the license manager 105 maymonitor the first IoT device's 120 a usage of SW1 125 a. If licensemanager 105 detects that SW1 125 a has been idle for a thresholdduration of time, license manager 105 may recall the license issued tothe first IoT device 120 a to run the first instance of SW1 130 a. Infurther embodiments, various conditions may be placed on the recalledlicense for the first instance of SW1 125 a, such as giving priority tothe first IoT device 120 a to once again use the license. A similarprocess may be used to determine if the license for the second instanceof SW1 125 b running on the nth IoT device 120 n has become available.Thus, if a license previously associated with either of the twoinstances of SW1 125 a, 125 b becomes available, the license manager 105may grant one of the licenses previously associated with either of thetwo instances of SW1 125 a, 125 b.

In some further embodiments, the license manager 105 may furtherdetermine a demand for licenses for particular vendor software. Forexample, in one set of embodiments, license manager 105 may determine,based on the number of requests for licenses, an average concurrent use,or a projected average concurrent use for each of SW1 125, SW2 130, andSW3 135. The license manager 105 may, in some embodiments, determinethat more licenses may be needed for one or more of SW1 125, SW2 130,and SW3 135. For example, in some embodiments, as in the example above,SW1 125 may be limited to two licenses. The license manager 105 may thendetermine that, based on the requests for SW1 125, that SW1 125 has aprojected average concurrent use of three licenses. Thus, licensemanager 105 may indicate to the customer, IoT device vendor, or IoTservice provider that more licenses for SW1 125 are needed. In someembodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured to automaticallyacquire additional licenses from a software vendor of SW1 125. In yetfurther embodiments, the license manager 105 may be configured todynamically acquire more licenses of the particular software SW1, 125,SW2 130, SW3 135 as needed, or decrease the number of licenses of SW1125, SW2 130, or SW3 135, in-real time, corresponding to the demand forlicenses, as determined from the requests received by the licensemanager 105.

In another set of embodiments, the license manager 105 may make licensesavailable based on a service level agreement of the customer associatedwith a requesting device, such as one or more of the IoT devices 120a-120 n, IoT gateway 145, or IoT resource 150. In various embodiments,the license manager 105 may first determine a service level agreement ofthe specific requesting device (e.g., IoT device 120 a-120 n), orcustomer associated with the requesting device before granting a licensefor the requested software. Based on the service level agreement, thelicense manager 105 may further determine a priority level of licenseavailability for the requesting device. For example, when multiple IoTdevices 120 a-120 n request an available license, access to theavailable license may be prioritized based on the priority level, wherethe IoT device 120 a-120 n with a higher priority level may be grantedlicenses, by the license manager 105, ahead of other IoT devices 120a-120 n with a lower priority level.

In some embodiments, when the license manager 105 receives a request fora license from a first requesting device, such as first IoT device 120a, having a first priority level higher than a second priority level ofa second requesting device, such as second IoT device 120 b, alreadyutilizing a license, the license manager 105 may revoke the license fromthe second IoT device 120 b having the lower second priority level, andgrant the license to the first IoT device 120 a having the higher firstpriority level.

In other embodiments, the license manager 105 may ensure that a certainnumber of licenses of the total number of licenses for particularsoftware (or IoT resources 150) remains available to requesting deviceshaving a high priority level. For example, in some embodiments, out ofthe total number of licenses, a certain percentage of the total numberof licenses may remain available at all times for requesting deviceshaving a high priority level. Requesting devices having a low prioritylevel will not be granted licenses that are reserved for high prioritylevel customers. Thus, the license manager 105 may ensure theavailability of licenses based on priority levels.

In another set of embodiments, the license manager 105 may furthercreate and enforce restriction conditions on the use of individuallicenses. In various embodiments, the restriction conditions mayinclude, without limitation, geographic restrictions, such as, forexample, restrictions based on a region, state, country, continent, timezones, etc.; temporal restrictions, such as date and time, duration,etc.; a restriction on the number of times a software instance may berun; device specific restrictions, such as a network address basedrestriction; or any other restriction suited to a particular softwaremay be created and implemented. When the conditions specified by therestriction condition occur, the license manager 105 may revoke thegranted license. For example, in embodiments utilizing a geographiclicense restriction, the license manager 105 may be able to detect thata customer has accessed software through one of the plurality of IoTdevices 120 from a country in which the software is prohibited. Thelicense manager 105 may be configured to revoke the previously grantedlicense from the specific IoT device 120 a-120 n. In another example,embodiments may utilize a temporal restriction condition, such asallowing usage of a license for only a specified period—two hours inthis example. Thus, when a license is requested, and the license hasbeen granted to the requesting device, the license manager 105 may begintracking the amount of time that has elapsed from when the license wasgranted. After the specified two hours has elapsed, the license manager105 may revoke the license.

In another set of embodiments, a combination of restriction conditionsmay be utilized by the license manager 105. For example, in someembodiments, licenses may be made available only to customers for thetime period from 8 AM to 5 PM for the particular customer locally. Thus,a software license that is available to a customer belonging to PacificTime Zone at 3 PM locally may not be available to a customer in theEastern Time Zone. Therefore, licenses may be made available tocustomers on a rolling basis as described above. In some embodiments,the restriction conditions may be imposed based on the physical locationof a requesting device, such as IoT device 120 a-120 n, IoT gateway 145,or IoT resource 150. In various embodiments, the license manager 105 maybe able to retrieve location information from the requesting device. Forexample, the requesting device may be an IoT device 120 a-120 n coupledto one or more sensors 140 a-140 n. In some embodiments, the respectiveone or more sensors 140 a-140 n may include a GPS receiver. For example,the licenses for the second instance of SW2 130 b and the first instanceof SW3 135 a granted to the second IoT device 120 b may be availableonly in specific states. Licenses for SW2 130 may be available tocustomers or requesting devices in State A and State B, while licensesfor SW3 135 may only be available to customers or requesting deviceslocated in State A. Thus, if the second IoT device 120 b is determinedto be in state B, the license for the first instance of SW3 135 a may berevoked from the second IoT device 120 b. According to variousembodiments, the license manager 105 may similarly manage softwarelicenses for each of the requesting devices (e.g., plurality of IoTdevices 120, IoT gateway 145, or IoT resources 150) in a similar manner.

In this way, the management and tracking functionality of the licensemanager 105 provides the ability to track licenses for software andservices in an IoT environment. The above described embodiments allowfor automated management and tracking within an IoT ecosystem from acentrally operable license manager 105. Furthermore, the license manager105 allows for expanded functionality to create and enforce restrictionconditions via the license manager 105.

It is to be understood that in the described examples, the licensemanager 105 is described in the above embodiments with respect to threesoftware programs (SW1 125, SW2, 130, and SW3 135) for purposes ofexplanation only, and that in other embodiments, licenses for a greateror lesser number of software programs and other IoT resources 150 may bemanaged by the license manager 105.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a system topology 200 for IoTdevices and services software management, in accordance with variousembodiments. The system topology 200 may include a license manager 205,network 210, IoT device 1 220, IoT device 2 225, GPS receiver 250, GPSsatellite X 255, IoT gateway 260, IoT device 3 270, IoT gateway 280, andaccess point 285. A region X 215 may include the IoT device 1 220, IoTdevice 2 225, IoT gateway 260, and receiver 250. A region Y 265 mayinclude the IoT device 3 270, IoT gateway 280, and access point 285. TheIoT device 1 220 may further include a first instance of SW1 230 a, afirst instance of SW2 235 a, and a software defined radio (SDR 240). TheIoT device 2 225 may include a second instance of SW1 230 b and aninstance of SW3 245. The IoT device 3 270 may include a second instanceof SW2 235 b, and an SDR 275.

In various embodiments, the license manager 205 may be coupled to thenetwork 210, through which the license manager 205 may further becoupled to one or more of IoT device 1 220, IoT device 2 225, IoT device3 270 via the network 210, IoT gateway 260, IoT gateway 280, and accesspoint 285. The IoT gateway 260 may physically be in region X 215, andcoupled to one or more IoT devices physically located in region X 215,including the IoT device 1 220, and IoT device 2 225. Each of the IoTdevice 1 220 and IoT device 2 225 may be communicatively coupled to eachother. The IoT device 1 220 may further be coupled to a receiver 250 incommunication with one or more GPS satellites 225 over region X 215. TheIoT gateway 280 may physically be in region Y 265, and coupled to one ormore IoT device physically located in region Y 265, including the IoTdevice 3 270, and optionally IoT device 2 225. The IoT gateway 280 mayfurther be coupled to an access point 285, through which the IoT gateway280, and by extension IoT device 3 270 (and optionally IoT device 2225), may be coupled to the network 210. It should be noted that thesystem topology 200 and its components are schematically illustrated inFIG. 2, and that modifications to the system topology 200 may bepossible in accordance with various embodiments.

In various embodiments, the IoT gateway 260 may be configured toprovision the IoT device 1 220 and IoT device 2 225, connecting the IoTdevice 1 220 and IoT device 2 225 to various IoT resources, via thenetwork 210. IoT device 1 220 and IoT device 2 225 may be associatedwith a first customer. Similarly, IoT gateway 280 may be configured toprovision the IoT device 3 270, and optionally IoT device 2 225,connecting IoT device 3 270 (and optionally IoT device 2 225) to thenetwork 210, via an access point 285. The access point 285 may be anaccess point associated with a service provider (such as an internetservice provider), or a customer. Access point 285 may include, withoutlimitation, both wired and wireless access points such as routers andmodems, and wireless hotspots. The IoT device 3 270 (and optionally IoTdevice 2 225) may be associated with a second customer.

In various embodiments, the IoT device 1 220 may be configured torequest, from the license manager 205, a license to execute or obtain afirst instance of SW1 230 a and a first instance of SW2 235 a. Forexample, in some embodiments, the IoT device 1 220 may be loaded anddeployed with one or more of the first instance of SW1 230 a and thefirst instance of SW2 235 a. The IoT device 1 220 may further beconfigured to obtain, from an application server or other IoT resource,one or more of the first instance of SW1 230 a and the first instance ofSW2 235 a via the network 210.

In some embodiments, the license manager 205 may place a restrictioncondition on licenses for the instances of SW2 235 a, 235 b (235collectively), based on a local time. For example, as described inprevious embodiments, SW2 235 may have a restriction condition such thatlicenses are only available from 8 AM to 5 PM local time in eachrespective region 215, 265. In one embodiment, Region X 215 may be threehours ahead of Region Y 265. Accordingly, when the time in Region X 215reaches 5 pm, the license for SW2 235 a may be revoked from IoT device 1220, and granted to IoT device 3 270 to use the second instance of SW2instance 235 b. In various embodiments, the local time for IoT device 1220 may be reported to and/or determined by the license manager 205 bythe IoT device 1 220. For example, a local time for the IoT device 1 220(and other devices in region X 215) may be determined based on areported location. For example, the IoT device 1 220 may be coupled tothe GPS receiver 250 in communication with GPS satellite 255.Accordingly, the IoT device 1 220 may be configured to determine itslocation via the receiver 250. In further embodiments, the IoT device 1220 may be configured to determine, via the receiver 250, that the IoTdevice 1 220 is physically in region X 215. A local time (e.g., the timein region X 215) may then be determined based on the locationinformation of the IoT device 1 220.

Similarly, a location and/or local time of the IoT device 2 225 may bedetermined by the license manager 205. In various embodiments, IoTdevice 2 225 may be configured to determine and report a location and/orlocal time to the license manager 205, via the network 210. In contrastwith IoT device 1 220, in some embodiments, the IoT device 2 225 may beconfigured to determine its location via a reported location from theIoT device 1 220. For example, the IoT device 2 225 may becommunicatively coupled to IoT device 1 220 and configured to request orotherwise obtain location data for IoT device 1 220, directly from theIoT device 1 220, IoT gateway 260, or through an IoT middleware. Basedon a priori knowledge of its own location relative to IoT device 1 220,the IoT device 2 225 may simply report its location as the same locationas IoT device 1 220. Alternatively, the IoT device 2 225 may beconfigured to determine and report its location to the license manager205 relative to the location of IoT device 1 220. In yet furtherembodiments, the IoT device 2 225 may be coupled to one or more sensors,which may be configured to identify its position relative to the IoTdevice 1 220. Thus, the license manager 205 may use the reportedlocation of the IoT device 1 220 and the reported relative position ofthe IoT device 2 225 to determine a location of the IoT device 2 225based on the location of IoT device 1 220. Accordingly, a local time ofthe IoT device 2 225 may, in some embodiments, be determined based onthe reported location information. In some embodiments, IoT device 2 225may optionally be coupled to IoT device 3 270. In this optionalarrangement, the IoT device 2 225 may be configured to report itsposition, similarly, based on the location of the access point 285.

Similarly, a location and/or local time of the IoT device 3 270 may bedetermined by the license manager 205. In various embodiments, the IoTdevice 3 270 may be configured to determine and report a location and/orlocal time to the license manager 205, via the network 210. In contrastwith IoT device 1 220, however, in some embodiments, the IoT device 3270 may be configured to determine its location based on a prioriknowledge of a location of the access point 285. For example, the IoTdevice 3 270 and/or IoT gateway 280 may be configured to be coupledwirelessly to access point 285. Thus, an approximate location of the IoTgateway 280 and/or IoT device 3 270 may be determined, based on wirelessrange over which a connection may be established to the access point285. Accordingly, based on a known location (e.g., region Y 265) of theaccess point 285 to which the IoT device 3 270 is coupled, a location ofthe IoT device 3 270 may be determined.

In another set of embodiments, the license manager 205 may be configuredto restrict licenses based on the location of a respective customerassociated with the IoT devices 220, 225, 270. Thus, in variousembodiments, the license manager 205 may determine the location of acustomer through a network address of a user device or IoT middleware,requesting access to data from the IoT device 220, 225, 270, such as anIP address. Alternatively, the location of the customer may bedetermined based on location information provided by the customer, suchas a physical street address for an office; through payment informationprovided by the customer; or any other suitable identifying information,as known to those in the art, from which a customer's location may bedetermined. In some embodiments, the license manager 205 may obtaincustomer location information based on customer input, while in otherembodiments, the license manager may obtain customer locationinformation from the IoT gateways 260, 280, access point 285, or otherintermediate device.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the customer associated with IoTdevice 1 225 may be located in a time zone that is eight hours ahead ofthe customer associated with IoT device 3 270. Thus, the license grantedto IoT device 3 270 for the second instance of SW2 235B may be revokedby license manager 205 at 5 PM local time for the customer associatedwith IoT device 3 270, and provided to IoT device 1 220.

In some embodiments, the restriction condition may be regionally based.For example, in some embodiments, the license for SW2 235 may berestricted from being used in Country A to which Region X 215 belongs.Thus, the license manager may determine that IoT device 220 is in regionX 215, via the GPS location as determined by the receiver 250, andreported by the IoT device 1 220. The license manager 205 may beconfigured to revoke the license for the first instance of SW2 235 a (ifloaded on the IoT device 1 220 by the IoT device vendor) or refuse togrant the license to execute the first instance of SW2 235 a. Similarly,geographic restriction conditions placed on licenses may be enforced forspecific customers, based on the geographic regions of the customers asopposed to the devices, such as the IoT devices 220, 225, 270.

In a further set of embodiments, licenses may be granted and revokedbased on a priority given to a respective IoT device 220, 225, 270, oralternatively, to different customers. Thus, in some embodiments, IoTdevice 3 270 may be given higher priority for license availability thanIoT device 1 220. In various embodiments, priority may be given as partof an SLA offered to customers. Thus, if no licenses are available toIoT device 3 270 at a time when a license to run the second instance ofSW2 235 b is requested, the license manager 205 may revoke the licensegiven to IoT device 1 220 for the first instance of SW2 235 a. In someembodiments, some high-level SLAs with customers may guarantee that alicense will be available to the customer on demand; within a specifiedtime period; or available at certain times. Some low-level SLAs maynotify the customer that their licenses may be given to customers at ahigher priority level and that licenses to software may be revoked, oravailability to software licenses may be limited based on the SLA.

Accordingly, the system 100 and system topology 200 of FIGS. 1 & 2provide expanded management capabilities over conventional audit-basedmanagement schemes for tracking various instances of software andauthorized licenses. By providing a license manager 105, 205, remote,centralized management of multiple software programs or applicationsfrom different vendors is possible. Moreover, audit-based systems merelyidentify the number of licenses in use and the machines on which thelicenses are used. The license manager 105, 205, as previouslydescribed, allows software licenses to be granted and revoked, the useof software licenses to be monitored and tracked, and restrictionconditions to be defined and enforced, for each software instance andfor each software vendor, and remotely via the license manager 105, 205.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method 300 of IoT devices and servicessoftware management, in accordance with various embodiments. The method300 may begin, at block 305, by method 300A begins at block 305, byprovisioning an IoT device. In various embodiments, an IoT device may beprovisioned by an IoT gateway. The IoT device may be coupled to one ormore sensors, IoT resources, server, service provider, and/or vendor viathe IoT gateway or other gateway device, or directly be coupled with oneor more sensors or other IoT resources. In various embodiments, the IoTdevice may be provisioned in accordance with a setup request, orautomatically upon being powered on and/or connected. In someembodiments, provisioning the IoT device may further include registeringan identifier of the IoT device with an IoT gateway, license manager, oran IoT device vendor/manufacturer.

At block 310, the method 300 may continue by providing access to atleast one vendor software instance. In some embodiments, the IoT devicemay be pre-loaded with one or more instances of vendor software. Uponbeing provisioned, the IoT device may be given access to at least onevendor software, or the IoT device may obtain the at least one vendorsoftware via a connected IoT resource, IoT gateway, a server hosting theat least one vendor software, or in some examples, the license manager.In some embodiments, the pre-loaded one or more instances of vendorsoftware may be updated to a newer version if available. In variousembodiments, one or more programs or applications from a plurality ofdifferent software vendors may be made available to each of the IoTdevice. According to one set of embodiments, a vendor, service provider,or in some embodiments, the license manager, may obtain, from each ofthe software vendors, a set of licenses for each of the differentsoftware programs/applications to be made available to one or more IoTdevices. In some embodiments, a customer associated with the IoT devicemay provide a software license to be used on the IoT device.Accordingly, in some examples, instances of the vendor software may bepre-loaded, or an instance of vendor software may only be loaded after alicense has been obtained and/or granted.

The method 300 may continue, at block 320, by receiving, via a licensemanager, a request to reserve a license for an instance of vendorsoftware. In various embodiments, the IoT device, an IoT gateway, or auser device may generate a request to reserve an individual license forparticular vendor software to be accessed (e.g., run on a remote devicewhich the IoT device may access), or executed by the IoT. In variousembodiments, the request may include information in addition to thevendor software being requested. For example, the request may include,without limitation, an identifier to identify the customer initiatingthe request, or the IoT device to run or access the vendor softwareinstance, a priority level for the customer and/or IoT device, an SLA ofthe customer making the request, or any additional information that maybe used in handling the request. In various embodiments, the IoT devicemay request the license directly from the license manager before the IoTdevice runs a vendor software instance. In other embodiments, therequest may be received, by the license manager, from an IoT gateway, oran IoT resource remotely running the vendor software instance. In someembodiments, the request may be automatically generated by the IoT basedon whether the IoT device is actively in use, or based on an SLA betweenthe customer and a service provider (such as the vendor or provider ofan IoT service). For example, in some embodiments, an SLA may establishthat a vendor software instance will be available during a specifiedtime window. Thus, the IoT device may be configured to generate therequest for a software license in advance of the specified time windowsuch that the software instance may be available for the entirety of thespecified time window.

At optional decision block 325, a status of the IoT device may beconfirmed by the license manager. In response to receiving the requestfor the instance of vendor software, in some embodiments the licensemanager may confirm that the IoT device has been provisioned properly.For example, the license manager may first confirm whether the IoTdevice (e.g., an identifier associated with the IoT device) has beenregistered with the IoT device vendor. In some embodiments, the licensemanager may further be configured to determine whether the IoT device isnew, or newly activated. For example, the license manager may determinea version or model of the IoT device or software instance pre-loaded onthe IoT device, and determine whether IoT device and/or associatedvendor software is supported by an IoT device vendor or IoT serviceprovider. The license manager may further determine whether the requesthas originated from an active IoT device, or an inactive IoT device. Forexample, an inactive IoT device may generate a request for instances ofvendor software automatically without making use of the vendor software,or other associated IoT resources and services.

At decision block 330, the method 300 may continue by determiningwhether a license is available. As previously described, in variousembodiments, the license manager may be configured to determine theavailability of a license from a set of authorized licenses for therequested vendor software. In various embodiments, each of the licensesgranted to other IoT devices, IoT resources, IoT gateways, or othercomponents may be associated with an identifier of the device utilizingthe license. Accordingly, the license manager may be configured todetermine how many licenses are available. In further embodiments, thelicense manager may also determine when and how many licenses willbecome available in the future, and may notify the requesting deviceregarding when a license is expected to become available. In someembodiments, the license manager may maintain a queue of requestingdevices if multiple devices request licenses that are not available. Inanother set of embodiments, the license manager may determine a prioritylevel of the devices to which a license may have been granted. If thepriority level of the device is lower than the priority level of arequesting device, the license manager may determine the license to beavailable to the requesting device with the higher priority level.

If a license is currently available to the IoT device, the method 300may continue, at block 335, by registering the unique identifier inassociation with the available license. In various embodiments, theunique identifier for the requesting IoT device, or in some examples ofthe making the request, may be registered in association with theavailable license. The unique identifier may include, a network addresssuch as an IP address, hardware address such as a MAC address, locationinformation, serial number, model number, customer information oridentification, IMEI, MEI, or other identifier suitable to uniquelyidentify the requesting device, such as the network element, hostmachine server, or VM instances.

In some embodiments, if the license manager determines that no licensesare currently available, the method 300 may continue, at optional block345, by acquiring an additional license. Accordingly, in some examples,licenses for instances of vendor software may be acquired dynamically,up on request by an IoT device, customer, or other IoT resource. Inother embodiments, additional licenses may be acquired according to aservice agreement. Thus, if an SLA or other service agreement indicatesthat an instance of a vendor software should be available to the IoTdevice or an associated customer, the license manager may be configuredto acquire an additional license for the vendor software. In furtherembodiments, acquiring additional licenses may include revokingpreviously granted licenses from other devices. For example, the licensemanager may be configured to determine that the IoT device has a higherpriority level than a device with a previously granted license.

In some further embodiments, when the license manager determines thatthe number of available licenses reaches a predetermined threshold orlimit (e.g., threshold number of available licenses), or that noavailable licenses for the software remain, the license manager may beconfigured to generate and transmit an alert to a customer, IoT devicevendor, or IoT service provider. Accordingly, in some examples, thecustomer, IoT device vendor, or IoT service provider may acquireadditional licenses. In some further embodiments, the license managermay be configured to automatically acquire additional licenses from arespective software vendor when the limit is reached.

At block 340, the method 300 may continue by granting the license to therequesting IoT device. The license manager may be configured to grantthe available license of the set of licenses to the requesting device.In various embodiments, the license manager may directly transmit thelicense to the IoT device, or through an IoT gateway. In furtherembodiments, the license manager may grant the license to an IoTresource, such as a server for an IoT service being accessed by the IoTdevice. In some embodiments, granting the license may further includeproviding an instance of the requested vendor software. Accordingly,granting the license may include, in various embodiments, grantingpermission to execute, locally or remotely, an instance of vendorsoftware, or granting access to an instance of vendor software.

In various embodiments, granting the license may further includerevoking the previously granted license from a device with a lowerpriority level than the requesting device. In further embodiments, oneor more licenses may be reserved from the set of available licenses fordevices depending on a priority level. In further embodiments, licensesmay be guaranteed to be available within a specific time from when therequest was made.

In yet further embodiments, the license manager may be configured togrant a license with one or more restriction conditions. Accordingly,the license manager may be configured to receive or create one or morerestrictions conditions, and to enforce the restriction conditions onthe granted license. In some embodiments, a software vendor may providethe one or more restriction conditions to the license manager. The oneor more restriction conditions may be provided as part of the set oflicenses provided to the license manager. In another set of embodiments,the license manager may have an interface, such as, without limitation,a web app or portal, through which software vendors, IoT device vendors,IoT service providers, customers, and other users may create restrictionconditions on licenses of the vendor software. Restriction conditionsmay include, without limitation, restrictions based on a region, state,country, continent, time zones, time, date, length of use, a limitationon the number of times a software instance may be run, IoT device,sensor, or other hardware specific restrictions, or any otherrestriction suitable for restricting use of a vendor software.Accordingly, in various embodiments, the license manager may beconfigured to monitor the IoT device or other IoT resources granted alicense for the occurrence of the one or more restriction conditions. Insome embodiments, the IoT device (or other IoT resource) may beconfigured to report the occurrence of a condition, while in otherembodiments, the license manager may be configured to independentlymonitor for the occurrence of a restriction condition. In someembodiments, the license manager may further retrieve information aboutthe IoT device through other connected devices, such one or moresensors, other IoT devices, an IoT gateway, an IoT middleware, or otherIoT resource. For example, in some embodiments, the license manager maybe configured to obtain global navigation satellite system (GNSS)information, such as global positioning system (GPS) information, aboutthe IoT device via a coupled sensor (e.g., a GNSS receiver, GPSreceiver).

At optional block 350, the method 300 may continue by updating the usagestatistics of a vendor software. In various embodiments, the licensemanager may be configured to further track the number of times the limitof available licenses has been reached for statistical analysis. Invarious embodiments, the license manager may be configured to determinevarious usage statistics, including without limitation, which vendorsoftware reaches its limit of available licenses, peak usage time foreach of the vendor software, and average concurrent use for each of thevendor software. Accordingly, in various embodiments, the licensemanager may be configured to determine an average concurrent use ofvendor software. Average concurrent use may include a calculation of anaverage number of the instances of a respective vendor software acrossan IoT platform over a time. For example, average concurrent use may bedetermined with a granularity of minutes, hours, days, weeks and months.Moreover, average concurrent usage may be determined by time of day, andtime of year. The average concurrent use may also differ by IoTplatform, including, without limitation, by location, by region, bycustomer, by service level offered by a service provider, and by serviceprovider. Accordingly, after a license has been granted to the IoTdevice, the average concurrent use may be updated.

At optional block 355, the method 300 may continue by revoking unusedlicenses, based at least in part, on the usage statistics. In variousembodiments, the license manager may be configured to revoke unusedlicenses for a vendor software based on the average concurrent use.Revoking licenses may include, in some embodiments, revoking licensespreviously granted to IoT devices. In further embodiments, revoking alicense may include reducing the total number of available licenses forthe vendor software. For example, in various embodiments, the licensemanager may be configured to dynamically reduce the number of vendorsoftware licenses based on, for example, a current average concurrentuse, an actual number of instances of a respective vendor softwarecurrently in use, or a projected number of licenses to be used. In someexamples, the license manager may reduce the number of availablelicenses in substantially real-time, or in other examples, periodicallyor upon request.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system 400 for IoTdevices and services software management, in accordance with variousembodiments. The computer system 400 may include embodiments of one ormore components and devices previously described, such as a licensemanager, IoT device, IoT gateway, IoT middleware, and one or more IoTresources, which may perform the methods provided by various otherembodiments, as described herein. It should be noted that FIG. 4 onlyprovides a generalized illustration of various components, of which oneor more (or none) of each may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 4,therefore, broadly illustrates how individual system elements may beimplemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integratedmanner.

The computer system 400—which represents an embodiment of the IoT deviceas described above with respect to FIGS. 1-3—includes multiple hardwareelements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 405 (or mayotherwise be in communication, as appropriate). The hardware elementsmay include one or more processors 410, including, without limitation,one or more general-purpose processors and/or one or morespecial-purpose processors (such as microprocessors, digital signalprocessing chips, graphics acceleration processors, andmicrocontrollers); one or more input devices 415, which include, withoutlimitation, a mouse, a keyboard, one or more sensors, and/or the like;and one or more output devices 420, which can include, withoutlimitation, a display device, and/or the like.

The computer system 400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 425, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, solid-state storage device such as a random-access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devices may beconfigured to implement any appropriate data stores, including, withoutlimitation, various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.

The computer system 400 might also include a communications subsystem430, which may include, without limitation, a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an IR communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chip set (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, a Z-Wavedevice, a ZigBee device, cellular communication facilities, etc.),and/or the like. The communications subsystem 430 may permit data to beexchanged with a network (such as the network described below, to nameone example), with other computer or hardware systems, between datacenters or different cloud platforms, and/or with any other devicesdescribed herein. In many embodiments, the computer system 400 furthercomprises a working memory 435, which can include a RAM or ROM device,as described above.

The computer system 400 also may comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 435, including anoperating system 440, which includes device drivers, executablelibraries, and/or other code, such as one or more application programs445, which may comprise computer programs provided by variousembodiments (including, without limitation, the license manager, IoTmiddleware, and other applications utilized by the computer system 400to perform the processes described above), and/or may be designed toimplement methods, and/or configure systems, provided by otherembodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one or moreprocedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed above mightbe implemented as code and/or instructions executable by a computer(and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then, such codeand/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt a generalpurpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations inaccordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 425 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 400.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer system 400 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 400 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally availablecompilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities,etc.) then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,single board computers, FPGAs, ASICs, and SoCs) might also be used,and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software(including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further,connection to other computing devices such as network input/outputdevices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer or hardware system (such as the computer system 400) to performmethods in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.According to a set of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of suchmethods are performed by the computer system 400 in response toprocessor 410 executing one or more sequences of one or moreinstructions (which might be incorporated into the operating system 440and/or other code, such as an application program 445) contained in theworking memory 435. Such instructions may be read into the workingmemory 435 from another computer readable medium, such as one or more ofthe storage device(s) 425. Merely by way of example, execution of thesequences of instructions contained in the working memory 435 mightcause the processor(s) 410 to perform one or more procedures of themethods described herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 400, various computer readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, acomputer readable medium is a non-transitory, physical, and/or tangiblestorage medium. In some embodiments, a computer readable medium may takemany forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatilemedia, or the like. Non-volatile media includes, for example, opticaland/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 425. Volatile mediaincludes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory435. In some alternative embodiments, a computer readable medium maytake the form of transmission media, which includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 405, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 430 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 430 provides communication with other devices).In an alternative set of embodiments, transmission media can also takethe form of waves (including, without limitation, radio, acoustic,and/or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave andinfra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 400. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals, and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 430 (and/or components thereof) generallyreceives the signals, and the bus 405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 435, from which the processor(s) 410 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 435 may optionally be stored on a storage device 425 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 410.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system 500 ofcomputing systems, IoT devices, and system hardware architecture, whichmay be used in accordance with various embodiments. As noted above, aset of embodiments may include systems for providing scalable, dynamic,software management in an IoT environment. The system 500 may includeone or more user devices 505. A user device 505 may include, merely byway of example, desktop computers, single-board computers, tabletcomputers, laptop computers, handheld computers, and the like, runningan appropriate operating system. User devices 505 may further includecloud computing devices, IoT devices, servers, and/or workstationcomputers running any of a variety of operating systems. In someembodiments, the operating systems may include commercially-availableUNIX™ or UNIX-like operating systems. A user device 505 may also haveany of a variety of applications, including one or more applicationsconfigured to perform methods provided by various embodiments (asdescribed above, for example, the license manager, or an IoTmiddleware), as well as one or more office applications, database clientand/or server applications, and/or web browser applications.Alternatively, a user device 505 may include any other electronicdevice, such as a thin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobiletelephone, and/or personal digital assistant, capable of communicatingvia a network (e.g., the network(s) 510 described below) and/or ofdisplaying and navigating web pages or other types of electronicdocuments. Although the exemplary system 500 is shown with two userdevices 505, any number of user devices 505 may be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network(s) 510. The network(s) 510 can be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including, without limitation, MQTT,CoAP, AMQP, STOMP, DDS, SCADA, XMPP, custom middleware agents, Modbus,BACnet, NCTIP 1213, Bluetooth, Zigbee/Z-wave, TCP/IP, SNA™ IPX™,AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, the network(s) 510can each include a local area network (“LAN”), including, withoutlimitation, a fiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™ networkand/or the like; a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless wide areanetwork (“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual private network(“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network,including, without limitation, a network operating under any of the IEEE802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in the art,and/or any other wireless protocol; and/or any combination of theseand/or other networks. In a particular embodiment, the network mightinclude an access network of the service provider (e.g., an Internetservice provider (“ISP”)). In another embodiment, the network mightinclude a core network of the service provider, and/or the Internet.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 515. Each ofthe server computers 515 may be configured with an operating system,including, without limitation, any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 515 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 505 and/orother servers 515.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 515 might be a data server,a web server, a server hosting a license manager, a IoT device(s), orthe like, as described above. The servers 515 may include (or be incommunication with) a web server, which can be used, merely by way ofexample, to process requests for web pages or other electronic documentsfrom user computers 505. The web server can also run a variety of serverapplications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, databaseservers, Java servers, and the like. In some embodiments of theinvention, the web server may be configured to serve web pages that canbe operated within a web browser on one or more of the user computers505 to perform previously described methods.

The server computers 515, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications, programs (such as a license manager, IoT middleware, orone or more instances of various vendor software, as previouslydescribed), web-based services, or other IoT resources accessible by aclient running on one or more of the user computers 505, IoT devices525, 535, and/or other servers 515. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 515 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 505and/or other servers 515, including, without limitation, webapplications (which might, in some cases, be configured to performmethods provided by various embodiments). Merely by way of example, aweb application can be implemented as one or more scripts or programswritten in any suitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C#™ orC++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, aswell as combinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, including,without limitation, those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™ Sybase™, IBM™, and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer,user device, or customer device 505 and/or another server 515. In someembodiments, an application server can perform one or more of theprocesses for implementing media content streaming or playback, and,more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementingvideo tuning and wireless video communication using a single device inwhich these functionalities are integrated, as described in detailabove. Data provided by an application server may be formatted as one ormore web pages (comprising HTML, JavaScript, etc., for example) and/ormay be forwarded to a user computer 505 via a web server (as describedabove, for example). Similarly, a web server might receive web pagerequests and/or input data from a user computer 505 and/or forward theweb page requests and/or input data to an application server. In somecases, a web server may be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 515 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 505 and/or another server 515. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer, user device, or customer device 505 and/or server 515.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases 520a-520 n (collectively, “databases 520”). The location of each of thedatabases 520 is discretionary: merely by way of example, a database 520a might reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) aserver 515 a (or alternatively, user device 505). Alternatively, adatabase 520 n can be remote from any or all of the computers 505, 515,525, 535 so long as it can be in communication (e.g., via the network510) with one or more of these. In a particular set of embodiments, adatabase 520 can reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar tothose skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessary files for performingthe functions attributed to the computers 505, 515, 525, 535 can bestored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 520 may be asoftware license database, or a database storing one or more instancesof a vendor software. In some embodiments, the databases 520 may includerelational databases, for example, an Oracle database, that is adaptedto store, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formattedcommands. The database might be controlled and/or maintained by adatabase server, as described above, for example.

The system 500 might further include one or more IoT devices 525, 535.In various embodiments, the IoT devices 525, 535 may be communicativelycoupled to each other directly, or alternatively via network(s) 510. AnIoT device 525, 535, like the user device 505, may include, withoutlimitation, desktop computers, tablet computers, laptop computers,handheld computers, single-board computers and the like, running anappropriate operating system. IoT devices 525, 535 may further includecloud computing devices, servers, and/or workstation computers runningany of a variety of operating systems. In some embodiments, theoperating systems may include commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. Either or both of the IoT devices 525, 535 may alsohave any of a variety of applications, including one or moreapplications configured to perform methods provided by variousembodiments (as described above, for example, one or more instances ofdifferent vendor software, an IoT middleware, or in some embodiments, alicense manager), as well as one or more office applications, databaseclient and/or server applications, and/or web browser applications.Although the exemplary system 500 is shown with two IoT devices 525,535, any number of user IoT devices may be supported.

Each of the IoT device 525, 535 may further be coupled, respectively, toone or more sensors 530, 540. The one or more sensors 530, 540 mayinclude various types of sensors, including, without limitation,photodetectors, scales, gyroscopes, global positioning system (GPS)receiver, cameras, microphones, moisture readers, thermometers,smart-grid sensors, accelerometers, rangefinders, motion detectors,among many other types of sensors. In some embodiments, the one or moresensors 530, 540 may be accessible by other device, via network(s) 510.For example, a user device 505 may access data generated by either ofthe one or more sensors 530, 540, via the network 510. The IoT devices525, 535 may further include one or more instances of a vendor software(e.g., SW1 525 a, and SW1 525 b). In some embodiments, an IoT device525, 535 may be configured to be deployed with one or more instances ofthe vendor software, or to obtain one or more instances of a vendorsoftware SW1 525 a, 525 b. In some embodiments, the IoT devices 525, 535may further be configured to obtain a license for the one or moreinstances of the vendor software SW1 525 a, 525 b, from a licensemanager, as previously described.

These and other functions of the system 500 (and its components) aredescribed in greater detail above with respect to FIGS. 1-3.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to certain structural and/or functional components for ease ofdescription, methods provided by various embodiments are not limited toany single structural and/or functional architecture but instead can beimplemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in sequentially for ease of description, unless thecontext dictates otherwise, various procedures may be reordered, added,and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments. Moreover, theprocedures described with respect to one method or process may beincorporated within other described methods or processes; likewise,system components described according to a specific structuralarchitecture and/or with respect to one system may be organized inalternative structural architectures and/or incorporated within otherdescribed systems. Hence, while various embodiments are describedwith—or without—certain features for ease of description and toillustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to oneembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: an internet of things (IoT)device in communication with one or more sensors; a database includingone or more sets of authorized licenses, each set of authorized licensesassociated with a respective vendor software; a license manager incommunication with the IoT device and the database, the license managercomprising: a processor; a non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprising instructions executable by the processor to: receive, via theIoT device, a request to reserve a license of a first set of one or moreauthorized licenses associated with a first vendor software; determine aservice level agreement to be applied to the IoT device or a customerassociated with the IoT device; determine, via the database, anavailability of the license associated with the first vendor software;determine, based on the service level agreement, a priority level oflicense availability of the license for the first vendor software;register, via the database, a unique identifier of the IoT deviceresponsive to determining that the license is available, wherein byregistration the unique identifier is associated with the license;ensure availability of the license according to the service levelagreement, wherein ensuring availability includes revoking the licensefrom another IoT device with a lower priority level of licenseavailability than the priority level of license availability for the IoTdevice or the customer associated with the IoT device; and grant thelicense to the IoT device.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to: reserve, at thedatabase, one or more of the first set of licenses based, at least inpart, on the priority level of license availability.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to: determine, via an IoT device vendor, whether one of theIoT device or the first vendor software is supported by the IoT devicevendor; and denying the license to the IoT device responsive todetermining that the IoT device or the vendor software is not supportedby the IoT device vendor.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to: create arestriction condition on the use of the license; and revoke the licenseupon an occurrence of the restriction condition.
 5. The system of claim4, wherein one or more sensors includes a global navigation satellitesystem (GNSS) receiver, wherein the restriction condition is one of ageographic or temporal restriction, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to: determine, via the IoT device, at leastone of a location or local time of the IoT device based on data receivedfrom the GNSS receiver; and deny, based at least in part on the at leastone of the location or local time of the IoT device, granting thelicense to the IoT device.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to: acquire, from afirst software vendor associated with the first vendor software, one ormore additional licenses in response to determining that the license isnot available; and grant, responsive to the request, a second license ofthe one or more additional licenses to the IoT device.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to: reduce, based at least in part on a usage statistic forthe first vendor software, a total number of licenses in the first setof one or more authorized licenses associated with the first vendorsoftware, wherein the usage statistic includes at least one of a currentuse, average concurrent use, or a peak usage of the first vendorsoftware.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to: determine, via the database, a totalnumber of available licenses in the first set of one or more authorizedlicenses associated with the first vendor software; generate an alertresponsive to the total number of available licenses reaching athreshold number, indicating that the number of available licenses hasreached the threshold number; and transmit the alert to one of the IoTdevice, customer associated with the IoT device, an IoT device vendor,or IoT service provider.
 9. An apparatus comprising: a processor; anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructionsexecutable by the processor to: receive, from an IoT device, a requestto reserve a license of a first set of one or more authorized licensesassociated with a first vendor software; determine a service levelagreement to be applied to the IoT device or a customer associated withthe IoT device; determine, via a license database, an availability ofthe license associated with the first vendor software; determine, basedon the service level agreement, a priority level of license availabilityof the license for the first vendor software; register, via the licensedatabase, a unique identifier of the IoT device responsive todetermining that the license is available, wherein by registration theunique identifier is associated with the license; ensure availability ofthe license according to the service level agreement, wherein ensuringavailability includes revoking the license from another IoT device witha lower priority level of license availability than the priority levelof license availability for the IoT device or the customer associatedwith the IoT device; and grant the license to the IoT device.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions are further executable bythe processor to: reserve, at the database, one or more of the first setof licenses based, at least in part, on the priority level of licenseavailability.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions arefurther executable by the processor to: acquire, from a first softwarevendor associated with the first vendor software, one or more additionallicenses in response to determining that the license is not available;and grant, responsive to the request, a second license of the one ormore additional licenses to the IoT device; and reduce, based at leastin part on a usage statistic for the first vendor software, a totalnumber of licenses in the first set of one or more authorized licensesassociated with the first vendor software, wherein the usage statisticincludes at least one of a current use, average concurrent use, or apeak usage of the first vendor software.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:create a restriction condition on the use of the license; and revoke thelicense upon an occurrence of the restriction condition.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the restriction condition is one of ageographic or temporal restriction, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to: determine, via the IoT device, at leastone of a location or local time of the IoT device; and deny, based atleast in part on the at least one of the location or local time of theIoT device, granting the license to the IoT device.
 14. A methodcomprising: receiving, via a license manager, a request to reserve alicense of a first set of one or more authorized licenses associatedwith a first vendor software; determining, via the license manager, aservice level agreement to be applied to the IoT device or a customerassociated with the IoT device; determining, via the license manager, anavailability of the license associated with the first vendor software;determining, via the license manager and based on the service levelagreement, a priority level of license availability of the license forthe first vendor software; registering, via the license manager, aunique identifier of the IoT device, in response to determining that thelicense is available, with a database including the first set of one ormore authorized licenses associated with the first vendor software,wherein by registration the unique identifier is associated with thelicense; ensuring, via the license manager, availability of the licenseaccording to the service level agreement, wherein ensuring availabilityincludes revoking the license from another IoT device with a lowerpriority level of license availability than the priority level oflicense availability for the IoT device or the customer associated withthe IoT device; and granting, via the license manager, the license tothe IoT device.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:acquiring, via the license manager, one or more additional licenses inresponse to determining that the license is not available; and granting,via the license manager, a second license of the one or more additionallicenses to the IoT device; and reducing, via the license manager, basedat least in part on a usage statistic for the first vendor software, atotal number of licenses in the first set of one or more authorizedlicenses associated with the first vendor software, wherein the usagestatistic includes at least one of a current use, average concurrentuse, or a peak usage of the first vendor software.
 16. The method ofclaim 13, further comprising: creating, via the license manager, arestriction condition on the use of the license; and revoking, via thelicense manager, the license upon an occurrence of the restrictioncondition.